1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet-fed printing press that performs printing, foil transferring, and embossing on a sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to improve the value of printing products, the following procedure is sometimes used to create the effect of a highly elegant appearance on the printing products, for example. Firstly, metal foil is transferred onto a sheet, and then printing is performed with ink. After that, emboss process is performed on the portion with the foil being transferred thereon. The raised finish by the embossing and the brilliance of foil generate a synergistic effect on the appearance of the sheet.
When the above-described procedure is performed on a sheet, foil is firstly transferred onto the sheet by use of a foil transfer apparatus that is described, for example, in JP-A-2006-224667. Then, printing with ink and embossing are performed on the sheet by use of a printing press that is described, for example, in JP-A-2006-305903 (particularly, see paragraphs [0001] and [0062]).
The procedure described above, however, has the following problems. Specifically, both the foil transfer apparatus and the printing press must be provided to perform the transferring of the foil onto the sheet by use of the foil transfer apparatus, and then to perform the printing with ink and the embossing on the sheet by use of the above-described printing press. The installation of both the foil transfer apparatus and the printing press requires a space that is difficult to be secured. In addition, the sheet onto which the foil has been transferred has to be relocated from the foil transfer apparatus to the printing press. The relocation of the sheet not only requires extra time and work, but also can easily cause mis-register in the processes of foil transferring, printing, and embossing.